Seven Fun Facts about The Comedy of Terrors

Michael Doherty (left) as Janet Jones and Alex Keiper as Jo Smith in The Comedy of Terrors

By Kathryn Neves

This season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, you’ll get the chance to see The Comedy of Terrors—a rip-roaring farce that will have your head spinning. With identical twins, mistaken identities, and two actors playing five characters, this play will keep you laughing until the final curtain call! Here are seven fun facts you may not know about The Comedy of Terrors:

1.     This play takes its name from Shakespeare. Okay, so maybe you already knew this fact. This play is named after The Comedy of Errors, another play about identical twins, and the crazy mishaps that they get into.

2.     There are only two actors in the show. A man and a woman perform as a set of identical triplets and a set of twins, moving back and forth between roles with dizzying speed.

3.     The playwright, John Goodrum, played the Jones brothers in the original production. Performing as Beverly, Vyvian, and Janet, Goodrum got the chance to speak the very lines he wrote when the show first premiered.

4.     John Goodrum is a big fan of thrillers. He’s very into Sherlock Holmes; he’s written a few stage adaptations of Conan Doyle’s works, and generally focuses on writing plays with plenty of suspense. It’s no wonder, then, that even this farcical comedy has just a touch of terror!

5.     There’s a movie with the same name, starring Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone. Don’t get confused—it’s a different story. The movie came out in 1963 with a star-studded cast, and has become a cult classic. This season’s show is a different The Comedy of Terrors—but no less hilarious!

6.     The Comedy of Terrors is full of references to past theatrical works*.* From its namesake, The Comedy of Errors, to classic stories of confusion and coincidence dating all the way back to ancient Greece, this play follows in the comedic footsteps of all the greats.

7.     This is one of two plays directed by Brian Vaughn this season. Artistic Director Brian Vaughn is bringing you two amazing shows this summer! Be sure to catch his production of Ragtime while you’re in Cedar City.

The Comedy of (T)Errors

Michael Doherty (left) as Beverley Jones and Alex Keiper as Fiona Smith in The Comedy of Terrors.

By Kathryn Neves

What is the only thing better than a farce? Two farces, of course! This season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival includes two mad-cap comedies that’ll leave you in stitches. The first, of course, is William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. The second is a hilarious modern comedy called The Comedy of Terrors by John Goodrum. Goodrum’s play follows in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s classic slapstick; though they are two completely different stories, you’ll find plenty of things in common when you come to see them both this season.

Shakespeare loved a good set of twins. Both Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors star twins who get into all sorts of mishaps and misadventures! After all, twins are an easy way to get some great comedy into a story. Goodrum’s play is no different: just like The Comedy of Errors, The Comedy of Terrors stars not one, but two sets of identical siblings! The twins and triplets in The Comedy of Terrors will will have your head spinning with their antics. Of course, Goodrum’s twins (and triplets) have different names, unlike Shakespeare’s Antipholuses and Dromios. But each play explores the hilarity that ensues when long-lost twins come together again.

Mistaken identities are a key factor in both Errors and Terrors. By the time each play gets going, the characters’ heads are spinning as they try to keep track of each other. As an audience, we have a great view into their confusion and mishaps. It takes a lot of wit and cleverness to be able to weave these characters’ identities so seamlessly; both Shakespeare and Goodrum do a great job of letting the audience know who is who, while keeping up the hilarity.

Maybe the best part of each of these plays is the physical comedy— and the Festival has some great actors to do it! Physical comedy is a key component to both of these plays. Shakespeare follows classic slapstick in The Comedy of Errors; taking techniques from the slapstick of commedia dell’arte, he has kept audiences roaring with laughter for centuries! The Comedy of Terrors, too, makes physical comedy a very important part of the show. You’ll watch characters running back and forth, actors jumping into different roles, fistfights, and all sorts of shenanigans that will keep you entertained until the final curtain call.

Even though they are not the same show, you’ll find that Goodrum’s comedy pays homage to one of Shakespeare’s classics. It’s one of the funniest farces you’ll ever see— and after all, everyone loves a good farce. You won’t want to miss it!

Q&A with the Director of "Terrors"

Artistic Director Brian Vaughn has acted and directed at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for over three decades. He has directed such notable plays as 2019’s Hamlet, as well as Henry V, Shakespeare in Love, Peter and the Starcatcher, and many more. This year he is directing Ragtime and The Comedy of Terrors*. Here’s what he recently had to say about his experience with “*Terrors.”

The Utah Shakespeare Festival: You are directing two shows this year at the Festival: Ragtime and The Comedy of Terrors. These are very different shows. How do you make the switch from Ragtime with its large cast, soaring music, and plethora of scenery and costumes to The Comedy of Terrors, with two actors and minimal scenery and costumes?

Brian Vaughn: The switch has been both welcoming and a touch jarring, to be honest. Ragtime has so many moving parts and is such an emotional ride. Our production has been occupying a huge portion of my brain for many, many months now, especially as we navigated COVID-19 protocols during the early days of rehearsal. That combined with the sheer complexity of getting a very large show up and running under a very tight timeline played havoc on my central nervous system. The Comedy of Terrors has been a complete 180. It’s been a joy to flex the comedy and farce muscles a bit and laugh frequently, while exploring a completely different theatrical form than Ragtime. In many ways it’s a great example of our repertory schedule here at the Festival—the opportunity to work on two completely different projects and relish specific aspects of each. They are both vastly different, and they both have tremendous value.

The Festival: That being said, what are some of the challenges of directing such a small show?

Vaughn: This show has its own unique challenges. Only two actors, playing multiple parts in a quick paced, rhythmic style, with dialects and multiple technical elements makes each performance of the play fresh and lively. The old adage that comedy is hard is true. It’s all about timing, precision of movement, clarity of the set up and punch line, and all while keeping it honest and effortless. Luckily these two actors (Michael Doherty and Alex Keiper) excel at it, and it makes my job so much easier.

The Festival: The Comedy of Terrors is a light-hearted, farcical play that is witty and fast-moving. How does this type of show fit into a schedule with Richard III, Ragtime, and other “meatier” plays?

Vaughn: The Comedy of Terrors references Shakespeare, mistaken identities, and an individual’s search for love while also seeking reconciliation and reunion. The broad, witty, comical element of this play helps celebrate the nuttiness of life and the joyous comedy we need as a relief alongside such heavy dramatic material. Sometimes it’s just nice to laugh. I don’t know about you, but I relish the opportunity to laugh these days.

The Festival: In your Director’s Notes for the play, you reference vaudeville, stand-up comedy, Laurel and Hardy, and Burns and Allen. Could you elaborate on these influences on the play?

Vaughn: The Comedy of Terrors has witty, rapid-fire banter, similar to the comic stylings of George Burns and Gracie Allen, Laurel and Hardy, as well as famous British comedy teams like Monty Python or Beyond the Fringe. It is filled with word play, tongue-in-cheek references, and broad satirical characters. In many ways it celebrates British pantomime or vaudeville, with a crazy plot, silly characters in silly circumstances, and semi-dangerous scenarios.

The Festival: How has it been working with the high-energy husband-and-wife team of actors, Michael Doherty and Alex Keiper?

Vaughn: Working with Alex and Michael has been a dream. They are both so incredibly gifted. They have a tremendous rapport together, and their work ethic is envious. Plus, they are just flat out funny. They’re always fine-tuning comic moments with grace and openness, and it’s a complete and utter joy to work with them. The play really hinges on two actors who are completely at ease with one another and who are quick on their feet and have agile brains. They are both so, so good. It’s been fabulous.

The Festival: As playgoers, what should we watch for in this production that may help us enjoy it more?

Vaughn: Just come and enjoy the silliness.

Pericles: Shakespeare's Blockbuster

Photo: Danforth Comins (left) as Pericles and Desirée Mee Jung as Thaisa in Pericles*.*

By Ryan D. Paul

Pericles is the first Shakespeare play that I can remember reading. It is not the first of the Bard’s work that I had read, but I can recall the exact moment and place when I finished it. I can still feel the excitement of dropping the book on the desk, picking up my phone and calling my friends. I was convinced at that moment, and still am today, that Pericles is the coolest thing Shakespeare wrote.

Now, to be fair, there is ample evidence that Pericles was written in collaboration with pamphleteer George Wilkins; in fact, the first two acts are attributed to him. Wilkins would write a small novel entitled The Painful Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre a year after the play was produced, perhaps the first novelization of a theatrical work in history. Collaboration alone, however, is no reason to discount the wonder of the play. David Scott Kastan, the general editor of the Arden Shakespeare series argues that Henry VIII, Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Measure for Measure, and All’s Well that Ends Well all were collaborative. He states, “No doubt there are other collaborations in the Shakespeare canon. That’s the way plays were composed. The plays of the Elizabethan theater were not written like Lord Byron’s poems or Virginia Woolf’s novels in a room of his or her own. They were more like our movie or TV scripts, which might combine several ideas from a writers’ room or get reworked by one or more ‘script doctors.’ In the account book of the theater manager Philip Henslowe—the most important surviving document testifying to how plays were written in Shakespeare’s time—nearly two-thirds of the plays mentioned are in some sense collaborative.” (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/06/shakespeares-plays-had-other-authors-too/590389/).

Pericles is loosely based on the ancient Greek tale Apollonius of Tyre. In 1554, poet John Gower translated the story in his De Confessione Amantis and this became the base for Shakespeare to build on. In Shakespeare’s play, the narrator, the character shaping the proceedings, is given the name Gower. Each section of the play begins with Gower providing context, telling us what we need to know as the miles and the years pass by. The dumb show, an old-fashioned theatrical use of dramatic mime illuminates Gower’s language, letting us as an audience know that this is tale that must be shown, more than told. That is one of the brilliant facets of this work. We, as the audience, watching in our time, our era, are visited by Gower, a contemporary of Chaucer, showing us an ancient tale. Shakespeare scholar Marjorie Garber puts it this way, “Repeatedly, at the end of his prologues Gower reminds us of the inadequacies of telling – just as do the prologues of Henry V. By stressing the fictionality of the events he is describing, by emphasizing the degree to which they are products of poetic imagination, he brings his audience into the process of creation.” (Marjorie Garber, “Shakespeare After All” Pantheon Books, New York, 2004, 759.) And what a creation it is.

Pericles is an adventure tale full of storms, shipwrecks, pirates, prostitutes, death, and resurrection. Looking deeper, however, it is a play about healing, transformation, reconciliation, and redemption. Consider this: Pericles, fearing for his life for solving a truly disturbing riddle, ends up shipwrecked on a foreign shore. There, thanks to some solid luck and courageous fisherman he prepares himself to compete to win the hand of a princess. Triumphant (see, he is a man skilled in the arts and armaments) he sets sail with his pregnant wife, only to lose her in childbirth during the midst of another torrential storm. Having buried his wife at sea, he leaves his daughter with a pair of monarchs, who seem to be friendly, but in the ensuing fourteen years will eventually try to murder her. However, before the foul deed can be committed, she is saved by pirates, only to be sold to a brothel, where she begins to convert the patrons to the virtues of chastity. Finally, due to the help of a really talented doctor and a personal visit from a goddess, Pericles is reunited with those he loves.

Actor Christian Carmargo, who played Pericles in a 2016 production directed by Trevor Nunn describes it this way: “Pericles starts young and reckless, and his desire leads him into a difficult situation. He’s Hamlet. Then he matures. Lear goes down into a dark hole, but Pericles comes out into the light, as, Leontes and Prospero do in the later plays. To me, the play is a portal. It’s a play about how, when all is lost, one can reestablish a connection with a benevolent universe. When Trevor asked me to play it, my mind went immediately to the Latin quote on Pericles’ shield: ‘In hope I live.’” (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-continual-riddle-of-shakespeares-pericles). 

Pericles was one of the most popular plays in Shakespeare’s day, reprinted five times in less than thirty years. Pericles, according to Margorie Garber was the first of Shakespeare’s plays “to be revived at the time of the Restoration, when theatres, closed by Cromwell, were opened again—and women began for the first time to act upon the public stage. It became popular again in the early twentieth century when fairy-tale improbabilities caught the public fancy and the play’s poetry began to catch the enthusiastic ear of critics; and it is popular again today” (Garber 755).

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has presented Pericles twice before, once in 1997 and again in 2010. This year’s production is helmed by Kent Thompson, who last directed the Festival’s 2012 production of Scapin. In his unpublished director’s notes, Thompson states that “Pericles is a strange and tantalizing play that feels like an experiment by Shakespeare in the development of his late Romance plays.  It is an epic tale of a hero’s journey that reminds me of other great adventures, such as The Odyssey or sections of The Bible. Being an adult fairytale, it is magical but also a very dark—misfortune and loss are faced repeatedly by Pericles, Thaisa, and Marina, only to end in the thrilling restoration of the family at the Temple of Diana. As Gower says: “Virtue preserved from fell destruction’s blast / Led on by heaven and crowned with joy at last.”  Indeed, endurance, faith, and virtue are required for the family to achieve a happy ending after a wild and painful adventure. It has moments of unimaginable beauty and unspeakable tragedy, but it ends in the wonder-filled restoration of the family.  The good are rewarded; the bad are punished.  In this way, Pericles is an Everyman.”

Pericles is not just an “Everyman” as Thompson notes; Pericles is a play for everybody. Noted Shakespeare scholar James Shaprio said, “I don’t know why we do any other play” (New Yorker). Noted director Trevor Nunn put it this way, “Pericles, is also about someone who is known to us. He’s a man who has attracted bad luck, he’s a noble man, he’s a modest man, he’s in the shadow of his wonderful father. How many people does one know like that? A crisis of bad luck throws him into a depression early on, he bravely sets out again, misfortune strikes, and he goes very far down and becomes a hermit. We know people like this. The play asks, What kind of species are we? Must the canker always eat the rose? The stars continue to exist in our contemporary world. The gods are on every page” (Director’s Notes).

We cannot but obey the powers above us – Pericles Act 3 Scene 3

From an Old Golf Cart to a Model T Ford

From an old golf cart (top), through the various stages of building, to a finished prop Model T Ford in the Utah Shakespeare Festival production of Ragtime, with Ezekiel Andrew as Coalhouse Porter Jr.

By Liz Armstrong

Properties Director Benjamin Hohman has been at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for 28 years, but creating a Model T Ford automobile for Ragtime this season has turned out to be his biggest props project yet—and it all started with a broken-down golf cart.

The process to create the Model T started with hours of research beginning in February, and actual construction beginning in late April. “It probably took us a total of 800 to 1,000 hours, with around 14 people working on it at different times,” Hohman said. 

“Besides the large puppets of the man-eating plant in The Little Shop of Horrors, this was one of the biggest projects we’ve ever done,” said Hohman. “There was a huge learning curve.”

This learning curve was a surprising challenge for the props director, especially since he’s had that position since 2000 and worked at the Festival for seven years prior to that. He’s built props and done set dressing for over 160 shows at the Festival and had seen it all—almost.

“I’ve never built a car. Because it’s on stage it had to be battery powered, and I had several friends I had to ask for guidance,” Hohman said. 

So why build this Model T automobile from a golf cart? Surely there was an easier way. 

After looking into renting a Model T from another theatre company, Hohman found an automobile that he could rent from Massachusetts. However, transporting the car across the country was going to quickly use up the props budget for the show.

“I thought, I can build one for less than $9,000,” Hohman said. And the props director did just that. He began the project with an old golf cart the Festival already had in the shop, but he and his crew quickly ran into a huge problem.

“We quickly realized the golf cart didn’t run. It took three to four weeks to diagnose the problem.” Hohman said. “It was at this point we realized we had about a 50 percent chance that the stage crew members were just going to have to push the car on stage.” This option was actually acceptable to Director Brian Vaughn, if necessary—but not to Hohman. His team kept working.

When asked why they just didn’t give up and allow stage crew to just push the car onstage, it was clear that he wanted to tackle the challenge of having a Model T that was actually able to drive onstage because he believed it would add to the overall impact of the play.

“The director was prepared to have it not drive. But the car is a big deal to Coalhouse as he rises up out of poverty to buy his own car,” Hohman said. “Pushing the car just wouldn’t have told the story as well.”

The props team’s original thought was to use components from the golf cart, including the motor, batteries, steering, and part of the frame; but they realized that the cart was about as wide as they could go to fit in the space allowed onstage, but it was not long enough to fit the reproduction Model T body panels they had purchased. The solution: essentially cut the golf cart in half, extend the length, and weld it back together. 

“We eventually got it running and drove it a few feet right there in the shop,” Hohman said. For him and his team, this was a huge accomplishment. 

Now, they “simply” needed to add the replica body to the frame, as well as rims, tires, and other accoutrements. The rims on the car are from a genuine 1930s Model A and the tires are reproduction tires. 

“There’s upholstery that makes it look like the car is convertible, and there’s lanterns on either side of the windshield,” Hohman said. “From the audience, it looks like a real Model T, but it’s totally a props project.”

Ezekiel Andrews, who is playing the role of Coalhouse Walker Jr. this season, has played the same character for different theatres several times before but has never had a car that he could actually drive. 

Hohman made sure to mention that it was a team effort, and that the props team has never had a project like this before—where everyone had to pitch in. Hohman and his team worked through the nights, weekends, and early mornings, making sure to get every detail right. 

“We have an older artisan that is a retired material scientist, and he wasn’t going to come out this season, and then he heard about the car,” Hohman said. “He was a great help.”

Despite all of the challenges, Hohman and his team pulled it off, and the Model T Ford they built for Ragtime is something you won’t want to miss. 

“The fact that we built all the props for seven other shows and created a car that drives in the amount of time that we did is amazing,” Hohman concluded.

In addition to Ragtime, the 2021 season includes The Comedy of Errors, Pericles, Richard III, The Pirates of Penzance, Intimate Apparel, Cymbeline, and The Comedy of Terrors. Tickets for the season are now on sale: visit the Festival website at bard.org, call 800-PLAYTIX, or visit the Ticket Office at the Beverley Center for the Arts.

Ten Things You May Not Know about The Comedy of Errors

Michael Doherty (left) as Dromio of Syracuse and Andrew Plinio as Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors.

By Parker Bowring

With a plot rife with twists and turns and not one, but two sets of twins, The Comedy of Errors is a fun-filled play that is two times the trouble and double the laughs. Newly reimagined in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2021 season and set in the 1970s in a Greek Island paradise, this tale weaves humor and heart into a splendid tale of family, loyalty, and love. 

Even though this is a popular and often-produced play, there are a few things about this audience-favorite that you may not know: 

1. The Comedy of Errors was first published in the First Folio of 1623, from Shakespeare’s manuscript.

2. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humor coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to a multitude of puns and word play.

3. It is based on Menaechmi by Plautus, with additional material from Plautus’s Amphitruo and the story of Apollonius of Tyre.

4. As one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, the play was first performed at Gray’s Inn in London, on December 28, 1594, as part of the Christmas festivities.

5. Half the play is in blank verse, an exceptional accomplishment for Shakespeare being such a young playwright.

6. The Comedy of Errors, as Shakespeare wrote it, is set mainly in a street in Ephesus in Ancient Greece, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Turkey.

7. The play has been adapted into several different movies.

8. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two Shakespeare plays to observe the Aristotelian principle of unity of time, which means that the events of a play occur within twenty-four hours.

9. In the centuries following its premiere, the play’s title has entered the popular English lexicon as an idiom for “an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout.”

10. There is no real antagonist in The Comedy of Errors. Most characters create their own problems by making assumptions based on the similar appearances of each Antipholus and Dromio.

A Dozen Facts about Ragtime

Melinda Pfundstein (left) as Mother, Aaron Galligan-Stierle as Tateh, and Ezekiel Andrew as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the Festival’s production of Ragtime.

By Liz Armstrong

Being performed this year at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime is an award-winning musical which tells the stories of a wealthy white couple, a Jewish immigrant father and daughter, and an African-American ragtime musician. They experience vastly different worlds; however, they all have the same desire—to pursue the American dream even while many are battling for racial and social justice. Although many people are familiar with the story of the novel, musical, and movie, here are twelve things you may not know.

1. Ragtime could not have been selected to play for a more appropriate season of the Festival. The Festival has reopened after a year off due to the pandemic, and this play could be a sort of tribute to the playwright, Terrence McNally, who died last March due to COVID-19.

2. McNally was a pioneer of the LGBTQ movement, never shying away from the fight for inclusivity and shining a light on LGBTQ lifestyles in his play Corpus Christi, which depicted a Christ-like character as homosexual.

3. The creators of the music in Ragtime, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, were inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame after the dynamic duo earned an array of prestigious awards, including the Tony and Critic Circle awards.

4. As a historical novel, Doctorow’s Ragtime was included in Time magazine’s 100 Best English Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

5. The original production was said to have set records with its $11 million budget. It fascinated audiences with fireworks and a Model T automobile.

6. In 1998, Ragtime was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards. It won four, including Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Musical Score, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Audra Mcdonald), and Best Orchestrations.

7. An article by Tony Bravo argues that Ragtime should be adapted to the big-screen. Although the book focuses on characters in 1906, the inequality and justice issues discussed in the story are still problematic in today’s society. As Lawrence Henley says, “The primary lesson in Ragtime may be this: the more our nation changes, the more things have stayed the same.”

8. Set in New York City, both the novel and musical include prominent historical figures such as Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, and Harry Houdini.

9. Ragtime earned its name from the unique musical style that swept the nation at the turn of the twentieth century.

10. The show hit Broadway in 1998, opening in the brand new Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

11. Following its run on Broadway, Ragtime went on two national tours. The London production earned eight Olivier nominations.

12. The Model-T in the Festival’s production was built from an old golf cart base by the amazing properties crew, led by Properties Director Benjamin Hohman.

Festival Theatres "Mask Friendly"

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has announced that all its theatres, indoor and outdoor, will now be “mask friendly.” This is made possible by an adjustment in the COVID-19 guidelines from Actors’ Equity Association, the national actors and stage managers union.

The outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre had previously been operating under these protocols, but now the indoor Randall L. Jones and Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatres will also be mask friendly. This means that masks are not required, but those who wish to wear one may certainly do so. The Centers for Disease Control advises that unvaccinated people should continue to wear masks at indoor public events.

Executive Producer Frank Mack said, “It is wonderful to see artists and audiences together again on the Festival stages. The 2021 season is just amazing to behold and all our audience members can feel comfortable about wearing a mask, based on their preference.”

“We appreciate the concern and patience of all involved as we have opened our 2021 season this past week, sometimes with rapidly changing guidelines,” added Donn Jersey, director of development and communications. “But our patrons, actors, artists, and staff have been wonderful in helping us safely produce what is shaping up to be an amazing season.”

The Festival’s 2021 season plays through October 9. Plays are Pericles, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Pirates of Penzance, Ragtime, Cymbeline, Intimate Apparel, and The Comedy of Terrors. Tickets are available by calling 800-PLAYTIX or visiting www.bard.org.

Announcing the 2022 Season!

Melinda Parrett (left) as Ariel and Henry Woronicz as Prospero in the Festival’s most recent production of The Tempest in 2013. The popular romance is returning, in the Anes Studio Theatre, in 2022.

The 2021 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival just got underway, but on opening night Festival administrators raised the overall excitement another level by announcing the season for next year.

The 2022 season will feature eight plays from June 20 to October 8. In an effort to make it easy for loyal Festival guests to order their tickets well in advance, tickets are now on sale online at www.bard.org, by phone at 800-PLAYTIX, or at the Ticket Office near the Anes Studio Theatre.

“The lineup of shows for the 2022 season is an exciting mixture of Shakespeare, two beautiful musicals (including one outdoors for the first time ever), and magnificent contemporary plays,” said Executive Producer Frank Mack. “Festival audiences will be absolutely delighted with this combination of great shows.”

Here’s the lineup:

In the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre

All’s Well That Ends Well
By William Shakespeare

Although the king forces the young Count Bertram to marry orphaned Helena, he cannot make him love her. Only by completing an impossible task can Helena win that affection. But Shakespeare, in one of his famous “dark” comedies, once again shows us that, impossible task or not, callow youth is no match for true love and a determined woman.

King Lear
By William Shakespeare

Deluded by lies and flattery, old King Lear has sorely misjudged his daughters, placing himself into the cruel hands of his two ambitious daughters and spurning the youngest, the one who truly loves him. Only when alone and driven mad on the English heath, does he realize his epic mistakes in Shakespeare’s stormiest tragedy.

Sweeney Todd
By Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler

Sweeney Todd, an unjustly imprisoned barber, escapes and returns to nineteenth-century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett’s luck sharply shifts when Todd’s thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has of London lining up—and the carnage has only just begun in this dark and delicious musical!

In the Randall L. Jones Theatre

The Sound of Music
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

Maria, too exuberant to be a proper nun, is sent to the Von Trapp family as a governess for seven unruly children. There she teaches the children to sing and Captain Von Trapp to love, only to have the singing family hounded by the Nazis when they invade Austria. Known and loved the world over, The Sound of Music reminds us that with high-spirited hope, heartfelt compassion, and unwavering determination, life’s mountains can always be climbed.

Trouble in Mind
By Alice Childress

It’s 1957 in New York City, and Wiletta May—an African American actor in rehearsal for a new Broadway play—doesn’t intend to cause trouble.  But this time, the writer has gone too far, and, well, Wiletta rebels against one more stereotypical role in a “well-meaning race play.”  Will the other African American actors join in her fight against the improbable play-within-a-play, or must she fight alone?  The stakes are high, but this satire of backstage drama and racial tropes will make you both laugh and stop to think.

Clue
Based on the Screenplay by Jonathan Lynn
Written by Sandy Rustin
Additional Material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price

It’s a dark and stormy night, and you’ve been invited to a very unusual dinner party. Each of the guests has an alias, the butler offers a variety of weapons, and the host is, well . . . dead. So whodunnit? Join the iconic oddballs known as Scarlet, Plum, White, Green, Peacock, and Mustard as they race to find the murderer in Boddy Manor before the body count stacks up. Based on the cult classic film and the popular board game, Clue is a madcap comedy that will keep you guessing until the final twist.

In the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre

The Tempest
By William Shakespeare

Teeming with fairies, monsters, shipwrecks, and magic, The Tempest is Shakespeare’s last and most imaginative romance. The deposed Duke Prospero and his lovely daughter, Miranda, are shipwrecked on a small island where nothing is quite as it seems. But as they separate fantasy from authenticity, they eventually discover a “brave new world” of love, harmony, and redemption.

Thurgood
By George Stevens Jr.

Meet Thurgood Marshall: Lawyer. Civil rights activist. The first African American Supreme Court justice. In this acclaimed play, you witness as Marshall tells stories from his life and his transformation from a young and spirited dissenter to a pensive justice full of wisdom. From his early days as the civil rights lawyer to his appointment to the highest court in the land, Thurgood Marshall stood for justice while lifting the standing of his race and all Americans.

“The 2022 season is a season centered on survival in the wake of cruelty. It exemplifies our enduring human spirit to move forward with strength, determination, and resolve,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “Three Shakespeare offerings, two musicals (indoor and outdoor), and three humorous and profound contemporary plays, combined with nightly Greenshows, play seminars, and orientations, make for an exciting 2022 that audiences won’t want to miss.”

Opening Night: Over a Year in the Making

Return to the Stages Marks Sixty Years and Will Be Dedicated to Founder Fred C. Adams

Photos from Pericles, which opened the 2021 season, top to bottom: Sarah Suzuki (left) as Antiochus’s Daughter, Todd Denning as Antiochus, and Danforth Comins as Pericles; Chris Mixon as Pander and Sarah Shippobotham as Bawd.

Thursday was a night over a year in the making—the resumption of plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival after the 2020 season was canceled because of COVID-19. After a joyous opening night of The Greenshow, audiences were invited into the theatre by the traditional trumpet fanfare, and the stage soon exploded with action and color.

The opening play was Shakespeare’s Pericles in the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. It will be followed in the days to come by Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Pirates of Penzance, Ragtime, Cymbeline, Intimate Apparel, and The Comedy of Terrors.

But before the stage was turned over to the actors, Executive Producer Frank Mack and Artistic Director Brian Vaughn made a quick appearance to express heartfelt thanks to patrons, donors, company members, and others for making this season happen. They also spoke about Festival Founder Fred C. Adams who passed away in 2020. This season is dedicated to his vision, friendship, and memory. A celebration of his life is being planned for later this summer.

Also, in an act of faith and joy, the pair announced the 2022 season. Details can be found on the Festival’s website.

 “The confluence of many circumstances will combine to make 2021 a special season—celebrating sixty years of great professional theatre in beautiful Cedar City, honoring our visionary founder who made all this possible, and getting to produce shows for our wonderful audiences, by our amazing artists, after a year-long hiatus,” said Mack when discussing the season.

“The 2021 season marks sixty glorious years producing Shakespeare under the stars at the Utah Shakespeare Festival,” added Vaughn. “It will be a season filled with celebration and reflection, including honoring the legacy of Fred and the incredible achievements of his remarkable life.”

The season will run through October 9 in three theatres. Tickets are $23 to $85 and are on sale now: go to the Festival website at bard.org, call 800-PLAYTIX, or visit the Ticket Office at the Beverley Center for the Arts.